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Mental health, work-life integration and the obesity epidemic — these are just a few of the topics most relevant to today’s workforce that will be covered at Workforce Strategy 2018, September 25–27, in Atlanta, Georgia.

The experience of the American family has changed drastically. Today, there are more dual-earner households, single parents and female breadwinners than ever before. By the same token, demographic shifts and technology breakthroughs have transformed the nature of work. It’s not surprising that work-life struggles are common.

It is, however, time to rethink what we know about work and family. As we recognize National Work and Family Month, let’s reflect on some of today’s work-life secrets and what you can do to stay ahead of the curve.

Success cannot be defined nor sustained by one dimension of our lives. Our physical health affects our work performance, and our job satisfaction affects our emotional well-being in and out of the office. The lessons we learn in one role make us stronger in another, but we oftentimes find ourselves in conflict between responsibilities. A workplace culture of health and flexibility can assist employees in achieving work-life harmony and position businesses as employers of choice.

Do you have a best friend at work? If so, chances are you’re more engaged in your job than your peers without one.1 You may even be more successful at engaging your customers or clients and produce higher quality of work.2 While it may seem counter intuitive to some, research shows that having strong social bonds with coworkers is associated with a number of positive business outcomes, including those mentioned above. In fact, research also indicates that even minor increases in social cohesiveness among employees can lead to large gains in productivity.3

In our modern world, flexibility is the freedom to thrive in and out of the office, and it’s what women want. Today’s top talent is attracted to forward-thinking, flexible, and family-friendly workplaces.

After decades of growth, women’s participation in the U.S. workforce has been declining. In 1990, the United States had the sixth highest female workforce participation rate of 24 OECD economies. By 2014, it dropped to 22nd.1 Research indicates the lack of family-friendly policies accounted for approximately 28% of the relative decline.2

Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO of global private equity firm Blackstone and chair of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, published a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal on June 19. His letter was in response to an earlier WSJ editorial on paid family leave, “The Ivanka Entitlement,” which critiqued the President’s 2018 budget proposal requiring states to provide six weeks of paid family leave for new mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents.

At no other time in history have we had people across so many different age groups co-existing in the workplace: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. By 2017, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, U.K. and the U.S. will have at least 40% of employees aged 50 and older. They are predicted to retire within the next 10 years. This mass exit will lead to a shortage of senior and skilled workers. The millennial generation will not be able to fill all the open positions left by the retirees.

In today’s workplace, more generations are working side-by-side than ever before, with the largest portion of the U.S. labor force made up of millennials (34%), Generation X (34%) and baby boomers (29%).1 To best support the needs of a multigenerational workforce, employers should consider taking a refreshed look at how they develop benefits and programs, with an eye to what is most important to employees at each life stage.